Festivals Back At Wisemans With Return To Rio

A new weekend festival Return To Rio has been confirmed for the Wisemans Ferry venue north of Sydney that was previously host to the ill-fated Playground Weekender event.

Taking place at the Del Rio Riverside Resort, the festival will look to bring back the fancy-dress and pool party elements of Playgrounder, with two stages of live bands and deep house, disco and soul and funk DJs. The event will be headlined by Mad Racket with other renowned local party facilitators S.A.S.H, R Music and the event's promoters Disktrict.

Sydney-based Disktrict is Richard Cooper (DJ Tricky), who is the organiser of the festival, and Nick Law.

One half of Disktrict, Tricky, said, “Del Rio Riverside Resort features a range of wholesome activities to keep you entertained. From tennis, to mini golf, and basketball, to water skiing – there is something for everyone.”

They have capped tickets at 1,000, with the 'Golden Tickets' to go on sale Sunday 1 September for $120 plus booking fee. The event itself will take place Friday 15 – Sunday 17 November.

The full line-up features:

Mad Racket, Sash, Love Bombs, Start Cue, Bad Apple, R Music, Disktrict, Soul Shaker, Monkey Tennis, Danny La Ru(e), Sketch the Rhyme, Wonderland Ave, The Syndicate, Simon Caldwell, Ken Cloud, Murat, Gabby, Shamus, Jonny Gleeson, Garry Todd, Matt Weir, Kerry Wallace, Ben Ashton, Jack Fuller, Tim Reeves Smith, Antoine Lubideneuse, Tricky, Lawless, Dyson, Adam Proctor, Al Hearnshaw, Ross Ashman, Tommy Rutherford, Resort Styles, Mike Who, Richie Edwards, Ricky Gallagher, Lummy, Yelo Magic, Gary Broadband, Danny Bass, Rupert Pay, Simon P, Keema, Eggs, Brendon Le Bond, Alan Tomson, Shaun Bro, Auto Slide, Gabriel Clouson, Foreigndub, Nick Field, Lazy Cat, Keith Hodge, Alexandra, Local Hero's Big Man & Strangey.

Last year the Playground Weekender festival collapsed after bad weather deemed the site unsafe for the early-March festival. The promoters, Playground Festivals Pty Ltd, were forced to write off over $1 million, crippling the event.